FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND OTHERS

Scripture verse:
Live so that you don’t have to feel you’ve done anything wrong. Some people may say evil things about your good conduct as believers in Christ. If they do, they will be put to shame for speaking like that about you. It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil if that’s what God wants.

I Peter 3:16,17 (NIRV)

Scripture reading:
1 Peter 3:8-22

In this day of computers, iPads and cellphones
We’ve another way others to greet.
It makes me shudder
When I see what we utter
When we text, update status or tweet.

Are we showing the world who we really are?
Can they see Christ flowing through us?
Or are we getting caught
On this peer pressure float
To be funny or stir up a fuss.

Others are reading what we have to say….
Who we follow and pictures we post.
May we help others grow
And tweet things to show
We are filled with the Holy Ghost.

What would Jesus post? What would Jesus tweet
If He had a Facebook page?
We could touch boys and girls
And change our world
W.W.J.D. would be all the rage.

It won’t be all that easy and we’ll be criticized
Some will pooh pooh our efforts as dross

They will laugh and joke

And fun at us poke

But we’ll get our point across.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, help us be a positive influence on our world in all we do. Help us show others how happy a true Christian can be. Help them to want what we have in Jesus’ name.

WE WERE CALLED TO KNOW HIM

Scripture verse:

Christ suffered for you. He left you an example. He expects you to follow in his steps. You too were chosen…....                                                    

 1 Peter 2:21(NIrV)

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.

1 Peter 2:21 (NKJV)

Oh, how special we are.  God himself called us. We were chosen by God. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel special.

He left us an example to follow–his son, Jesus. Jesus instructed us many times to, "follow me." To follow him we first should get to know him. How can we get to know him? We can read about him. The Bible is full of the stories he told, the things he did and we can follow the things he showed us. Let’s learn about him.

These devotions will take us through the life of Christ. We will study his life through reading all about him in the Word of God—the Bible. You can make this your daily routine—to each day learn something new about Jesus. The more we learn about him, the more our love for him will grow. The more our love for him grows, we will then want to be more like him. Just remember, we are his chosen and special children.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, thank you for choosing us. We want to learn more about you. We pledge ourselves beginning today, to read about you every day. We pledge to find time to talk with you every day. Open your Word to us. Help us get to know you better. Every day we want to sit in your lap and listen closely to you. Whisper your words of encouragement to us.  Help us get to know you better, Lord. Help us to be more like you.

HOLD MY HAND

Scripture verse:

              I hold on to you. Your powerful right hand takes good care of me.

Psalm 63:8

Scripture reading:

Psalm 63

              Grandpa Gene was visiting his son and family in a small, rural northern town. He decided to take a leisurely stroll to enjoy the beauty of nature, then swing by the post office to get the family’s daily mail. Gene’s namesake, five-year-old Gina, came along to keep him company.

As the duo meandered down the street, grandpa pointed out all the beautiful flowers, changing leaves on the trees and many colorful and exciting objects of interest. They enjoyed just being together most of all.

When they came to the point where they must cross the street, grandpa reached for Gina’s hand. Gina protested by jerking her hand to the other side of her body away from grandpa. She had always had an independent streak just like grandpa and she wanted to do show that she was a big girl now and didn’t need him to hold her hand. But Grandpa Gene didn’t want Gina stepping in front of a car or stumbling and falling in the street.

“Gina, you have two choices. Either you hold my hand, or we will return home,” Grandpa Gene instructed. Then taking Gina’s hand in his, grandpa started to cross the street.

Gina jerked her hand away, stamped her foot and said, “wait! I haven’t made my decision yet.”

We have a decision to make ourselves. We can either go our own independent way, or hold the hand of our Protector. God wants an intimate relationship with us just as Grandpa Gene wanted a bonding relationship with Gina.

God will walk beside us during the times when we are exploring, but when there are dangers ahead, we must allow Him to hold our hand. We don’t know what lies ahead and may not understand why he isn’t allowing us to be independent. We must remember that He sees the future and He knows the pitfalls. We must trust Him without questioning why.

PRAYER

Dear Lord, we don’t always know why but we trust you. We give you our all today. We want to stay close to you. We want to walk with you. We want to talk with you. We want to listen to you and your Word. And we definitely want to hold your hand because you know what lies ahead.